Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Braised Grouse
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the birds
Clean the grouse thoroughly, washing the inside with soda and water, then rinse and wipe dry.
Truss the birds without stuffing them and tie them in shape.
Braise
Cover the bottom of a saucepan with slices of fat salt pork and lay the grouse on top.
Sprinkle minced onion, parsley, pepper, salt, and sugar over the grouse.
Cover with more pork and pour in the soup stock or broth.
If stock is unavailable, use butter and water, though it's not as good.
Cover the saucepan tightly and simmer for one hour.
Turn the birds and continue cooking, covered, until tender.
Make the gravy and serve
Remove the grouse.
Strain the gravy.
Thicken the gravy with browned flour.
Boil the gravy.
Serve in a sauceboat.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together25,843 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Pork + oniontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,214 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Grouse
- Provides the main meat, which becomes tender through slow, covered simmering.
- Fat salt pork
- Bastes the birds with fat and adds savoury flavour as it renders during cooking.
- Soup stock or broth
- Supplies liquid for braising and carries savoury flavour into the gravy.
- Browned flour
- Thickens the strained gravy and adds a toasted, nutty flavour.
The step that matters
Simmer covered and keep the heat gentle. Slow, moist heat breaks down connective tissue in the grouse. A hard boil toughens the meat and dries the liquid too fast, so keep the pan covered and at a low simmer.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, parsley, pepper, sugar, butter, flour):
- Shallotfits better
- Potatofits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pork, parsley, pepper, sugar, butter, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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